a tapestry of falling stars
by prouvaires
Summary: -she's almost expecting him to link his arm into hers and start singing "We're Off To See The Wizard" or something equally ridiculous.- RikkiWill


a tapestry of falling stars_  
come with me now and just lie to me.  
_(Brother in the Wind, High on Fire)

--

Rikki always laughs when someone warns her against playing with fire, because she doesn't _play _with it, she creates it and controls it and mostly there's no element of play whatsoever, just her and the heat and the flames and it feels so _good_ that she can't imagine anything else feeling like this, ever.

"Hey Rikki! Wait up!"

She turns and sees Will running along the beach towards her, his shirtless torso gleaming with sweat as he catches up to her and slows to a walk, slightly breathless from the exercise. She puts effort into not noticing his muscles (because he belongs to Bella … right?) and just dredges up a suitably sarcastic comment.

"What are you, stalking me now?"

He laughs and glances sideways at her, his (_oh-so-_blue) eyes sparkling in the bright sunlight.

"Something like that," he says like it's a huge confession, his face contrite, and she can't help the laugh as she swipes at his arm.

"So, where are you headed?" he asks ingenuously, and she's almost expecting him to link his arm into hers and start singing _We're Off To See The Wizard _or something equally ridiculous. She shakes her head to bring her back to the present and shrugs.

"I thought I'd go for a swim," she informs him, and regrets it immediately when he beams.

"Great, I'll join you. Let's walk back past my place and I can grab my trunks and goggles."

She mutters something inaudible as he alters their course, talking blithely (and still shirtless, _god_) as she almost grunts responses. He's apparently decided that they're friends since the incident she doesn't remember (really) in the moon pool and sometimes he looks at her like he's thinking something he shouldn't be because, hell, he's _Bella's _and Rikki can't, won't, do this.

"Will, I'm not sure – " she begins, but then they're at his house and he leads her inside. Sophie's sitting on the couch and she awards Rikki a brief glare as Will disappears to find his things.

"The dolphins say hi," Rikki says, unable to help herself, "and thanks so much for arranging all the publicity for the fund-raiser."

Sophie scowls over the top of her magazine. "Wow. You're hilarious."

Rikki smirks. "I know, I'm a comic genius. Maybe I should go on TV."

"Who's going on TV?" Will asks in confusion as he reappears, dressed now in khaki trunks and a blue vest, carrying his flippers.

"Me," Rikki announces, at the exact same time as Sophie replies "Nobody."

Will just stares at them. Rikki rolls her eyes. "I'm going to wait outside, 'kay?"

She pushes the door open and hears Will reprimand his sister briefly before he follows her out.

"I keep telling myself she's a nice person," he admits as he sits down on the side of the jetty to pull his flippers on.

"Maybe one day you'll start believing it," Rikki says, absently extending her hand over a bucket filled with rainwater and heating it up.

"Why do you do that?" he asks, putting his hand round her wrist and uncurling her fingers gently.

"Do what?" she counters, instantly on the defensive as she yanks her wrist away with a little too much force, shifting further away from him.

"Burn things. You do it all the time. Sometimes I think you don't even realise you're doing it."

She stops to think about that for a moment, absently worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

"I don't really know," she replies eventually, shrugging. "I guess I just like the feeling. It's kinda like being a god, y'know? Being able to create heat just like _that_." She accompanies her last word with a snap of her fingers and only gives herself a brief minute to try to decide why she explained it to him rather than just ignoring the question like she would with most people. Then she stands and bombs happily into the water.

Will follows her quickly and they swim a little way downstream before surfacing. She's astonished to find him laughing, his goggles pushed up his face.

"What?" she demands unhappily as he almost slips under, he's laughing so hard.

"I just …" he says, helplessly dissolving into chuckles again. "You usually enter the water so gracefully … that was pretty hilarious to watch."

She awards him a brief eye-roll before extending her hand.

"What?" he inquires in bewilderment, staring at her outstretched hand.

"I want to be at Mako and I'm not letting anything slow me down," she tells him, grasping his hand firmly in hers. "Buckle up, fish boy."

He pulls his goggles down and then she's _flying _and really this is the only feeling that's anywhere near using her power. He kicks alongside her, and she would sigh if it wouldn't give her a mouthful of saltwater because him kicking is absolutely not going to achieve anything. But hey, if it makes him feel better about being out swum by a girl, that's fine with her.

He lets go of her hand suddenly and the absence makes her heart twist with agon- nothing. Nothing at all.

"What's the matter?" she asks unsympathetically after she's doubled back and found him floating on the surface. "Water go up your nose and fry your brain? Well … brain _cell_."

"You're so funny," he says, deadpan, and she can't help the smile that tugs at the corner of her lips. "But some of us do need oxygen more than once every twenty minutes."

"You do?" she asks in fake astonishment, her tail flicking lazily to keep her above the water. "I figured you were part sperm whale or something."

It's in that moment, as he meets her eyes and they both burst out laughing (because, god, she said _sperm _and they're far too old to find it funny … but it was anyway) that something starts thumping harder and harder against her ribcage and she only realises she's moved closer when she feels his breath hot on her face and she somehow wrenches herself away before their lips touch, his body thrown against hers by the current.

She shoots through the clear water like a meteor, heading straight for Mako Island. She's in the moon pool within seconds, pulling herself out of the water and drying off furiously, aware that he could be there any second.

And she's angry with him and with herself and feeling most terribly guilty because what about _Bella _but most of all she's absolutely terrified because feeling him against her like that was like nothing she's ever felt before.

There's Zane, sure, but he doesn't count because he's _Zane _and he doesn't give her goosebumps down her spine, he just has nice eyes and he makes her feel pretty and does she need another reason to like a guy?

She transforms back just as he surfaces in the pool, and he clambers out and blocks her exit before she can escape.

"Rikki, please," he says, and there's something that sounds an awful lot like desperation in his voice, "please don't run away again."

"You need to do something for me," she tells him quietly, placing her hand on the waterfall-wall, taking strength from the slight magnetic pull of the rock. He moves closer.

"Anything."

"Lie to me," she says, her voice faint. "Lie to me and tell me you don't have feelings for me. Lie to me and then go home and find Bella and let me be without this horrible guilt."

"I can't do that," he admits almost as quietly. "I don't lie."

The "please" is halfway across her lips when finally, _finally, _he crosses the sand between them and presses his body all the way up along hers, dropping the flippers in his hand as his fingers tangle into her hair, his lips descending on hers like a drowning man finding oxygen.

And she knows that it's going to be short because she's only got about five seconds before the magic catches up with her and she's left floundering on the floor with a fish tail but as her arms wrap around his neck quite of their own accord she can't believe that she's found something that outclasses the feeling of using her power.

She's found it in this quiet boy with the _oh-so-_blue eyes and the handsome face and she doesn't want to let this go, not now and not ever.

--

**A/N: **Please don't favourite without reviewing, it makes me want to cry.

Apologies if you hated the pairing – but since Rikki saved him from drowning there is _most _definitely something going on there with him, unless you're in crazy denial-land. (I can't talk, I inhabit a denial land in which Lewis never left, Remus Lupin never died and teachers don't mind if you hand in homework late.)


End file.
